Self-Compassion and Post Traumatic Growth: The Mediating Role of Psychological Flexibility"

Self-compassion and post traumatic growth have previously been associated with positive mental health and functioning. They have recently garnered increased research interest in psychotherapeutic milieu as they have also been found to promote adaptive responses to trauma. On the other hand, psychological flexibility represents a variable known to have an impact on many human abilities including the capacity to shift mindsets and behavioral responses and is increasingly being understood as a crucial trait to develop for therapeutic change. The present study sought to examine whether self-compassion would lead to post-traumatic growth as well as the mediating role of psychological flexibility in this relationship. Data was obtained from 208 participants (females=143, males=65), age range=18 to 50 years (M =27 years, S.D = 6.89) who reported being exposed to at least one traumatic experience in the last 5 years. The results found positive correlations between all the three variables used in the study. It was found that self-compassion does lead to post-traumatic growth (c’= 4.9303, CI = 0.4947 to 9.3659, p = 0.0295). Psychological flexibility proved as the mediator between self-compassion and post-traumatic growth, with indirect effect IE = 5.9091 at 95% CI = (3.2340, 8.9695). The findings add to the host of literature on positive functions served by self-compassion, specifically in its contribution towards post traumatic growth. Further, this study explicates the mediating mechanism through which self-compassion exerts its potential effects by pointing out to the role of psychological flexibility.